Ch61 - Looking Back Upon Memories VI

Translator: transcendentwings

Qingliang Valley, which had always been clean and serene, far removed from the outside world, enjoyed a noisy and lively night on the first of March.

Steel blue, golden yellow, plain white light beads were scattered indiscriminately like tiny stars, they spun around in mid-air like balls of colored silk as if they were dancing, elegant and magnificent.

Xu Xingzhi carried a dustpan-sized wine jar in his left hand, sat on a slope, then took a sip. He held a lit firework in his right hand and raised it above his head: “Wen-baimao, take a good look ah, I’ll light an interesting one for you.”

Before Wen Xuechen, off to the side, could say anything, Qu Chi already became anxious: “Xingzhi, hurry and let go! You’ll injure your hand!”

Zhou Beinan stood with his spear in his arms and scoffed: “Qu Chi, don’t concern yourself with him, once he blows his hand up, the top seat of the Heavenly Ranking would just become a competition between you and me.”

Hearing this, Xu Xingzhi adjusted the position of the firework slightly, and let go of the fuse the moment the flame burned through halfway. The fireworks exploded in the air at a low altitude and the jade sparks fell onto Zhou Beinan’s head one after another, dousing him with a headful of cold snow.

Caught off guard by the ash blown all over his face, Zhou Beinan shot to his feet: “. . . F*ck!!”

Many disciples were holding fireworks, laughing, and running around not far from the four of them and Yuan Ruzhou was obviously at the center of all the female disciples. The variety of fireworks in her hands were the fanciest, thus many female disciples from other sects begged her to release more, chirping about with a qiqizhazha, making a fuss like an exhalation of larks.

Wen Xuechen rubbed his ears: “Has our Qingliang Valley ever been this chaotic before?”

Xu Xingzhi placed his wine jar down: “One more day of preparation tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be your wedding day. If there is no mayhem now, could it be that it should wait until all the lords and elders grace us with their presence that it occurs? Would it even be considered lively then?”

Wen Xuechen held back the faint smile that threatened to form on the corner of his lips and stated, deadpan: “It’s really downright outrageous.”

Xu Xingzhi grinned and plopped his ass down on the armrest of the other’s wheelchair: “Everyone is having a good time, the host must acquiesce to the guests needs, just bear with it even if you disapprove.”

After saying that, he glanced at Wen Xuechen’s overly slender and feeble legs: “. . . Speaking of which, Xuechen, can you do it or not ah. Xiao-Xian’er was someone all of us watched grow up, she can’t draw the short end of the stick when she marries over.”

Wen Xuechen lifted his lips into a cold sneer before replying.

“Your hands and feet sure are all present and healthy.” Zhou Beinan imitated Xu Xingzhi and sat down on the other side of Wen Xuechen’s wheelchair, “But when exactly will you get married? Even if it were to just seek a cultivation companion. . .”

Before he could finish his sentence, Wen Xuechen mercilessly shoved him off the wheelchair again.

Zhou Beinan jumped to his feet in anger: “Why can he sit and I can’t?”

Wen Xuechen snorted with disgust: “You’re covered in ash and dust, it’s extremely dirty.”

“. . .” Zhou Beinan gritted his teeth for a moment and then scathingly spit out, “Laozi won’t bicker with you over this. Lest you bully my little sister when she marries over.”

Xu Xingzhi sat on the side, watching them quibble, amused to no end.

Wen Xuechen turned his neck to study the other: “But what Beinan said has some merit. You should also consider the matter of cultivation companions a bit, after all that way there’d be one more person to restrain you so that you won’t be acting like a hoodlum all day.”

Xu Xingzhi had a playful smile on his face: “Look at it, see this, you yourself haven’t entered the wedding chamber yet ne and you’re already concerned about other people’s marriages.”

Wen Xuechen countered calmly: “Aren’t you and Meng Chongguang getting along pretty swimmingly ma.”

“He. . .” Xu Xingzhi froze for a rare moment, scratched the side of his neck with his fingers, feeling somewhat awkward, “A little brat only, what does he know.”

Wen Xuechen observed him carefully: “He won’t do? Could it be that you’re still hung up on Jiu Zhideng?”

“What does Xiao-Deng have to do with anything?”

Xu Xingzhi became increasingly befuddled, then straightforwardly abandoned any further thought on it, and grasped the other’s shoulders: “You ah, attend less to my affairs. Nuo. . .” He pointed at Qu Chi, “Have a look at that one, he’s four years older than me ne.”

Qu Chi didn’t expect that the conversation would go off on a tangent only to come to him and couldn’t help chuckling: “Ever since Shifu ascended, I have been in charge of all matters regarding Danyang Peak, how would I have the time to think about these things.”

Wen Xuechen didn’t even look at Qu Chi: “I won’t meddle with his affairs, I only tend to yours.”

Xu Xingzhi wasn’t anxious about it himself at all and hopped off his wheelchair with a smile: “You just need to concentrate on how to treat Xiao-Xian’er well. Just give me a nephew or niece by this time next year, I don’t need you to worry about the rest.”

He took a few steps forward, picked out a strangely-shaped firework from a pile of them, leapt onto the slope where he was lying on earlier, ignited it with a torch, gripped it in his hand, and waited for the fuse to burn: “Xuechen, watch me release an interesting one for you.”

A few moments later, he opened up his palm, and the firework that had been in a restless state for a long time flew into the air at a low angle, and starlight that was as fine as a swarm of mayflies swirled and scattered above their heads.

Xu Xingzhi spread his arms open wide and looked at him with a grin.

Wen Xuechen felt quite helpless: “You. . .”

However, just as he spoke, thousands of fireworks shot straight towards the firmament behind Xu Xingzhi, like magic that could move mountains and drain seas. The lights and shadows crackled like chaotic clouds, and celestial lights exploded one after another, gradually forming two giant characters that covered the sky and overcast the sun.

“Xue, Xian”.

These two characters were printed on the sky and there they remained for a long time.

Zhou Xian had already settled down in a well-built courtyard house on the outskirts of Qingliang Valley and was only waiting for her wedding day the day after tomorrow. As such, the grand scene of thousands of luminous flowers blooming could also be seen there.

Thousands of sparks of starlight scattered across Xu Xingzhi’s shoulders, reflecting his face in an extraordinarily clear and vivid way.

All the disciples were dumbfounded. Only those female disciples were only stunned for a moment when they saw the sky and then burst into cheers, all of them happier than if they were the ones getting married.

Xu Xingzhi’s blue hair ribbon was blown up and down by the wind as he shouted loudly: “Xuechen, this is my wedding gift for you and Xiao-Xian’er. Do you like it?”

Wen Xuechen gazed up at the sky and remained silent.

“. . . Tsk.” Xu Xingzhi ambled down the slope in a few steps, snapped the folded fan in his hand shut and used it to tap on Wen Xuechen’s chest, “Say something ah.”

“Where did you get these fireworks? It neither sounded very noisy nor did it cause people to be startled.” Wen Xuechen commented.

Xu Xingzhi raised an eyebrow and grinned: “I made them by hand one by one bei. That heart ailment of yours surely wouldn’t be able to handle the cacophony from the pilipala. How about it, is it good?”

“Just to blow up into these two characters?”

The expression on Xu Xingzhi’s face was serene: “Of course it was just for the sake of forming those two characters ah. Is that not good enough?”

Wen Xuechen lowered his head, played with his cuffs and sighed: “Whoever becomes your cultivation partner will be truly fortunate.”

“Why did it come back to this topic again, why are you being so annoying?” Xu Xingzhi complained, “Are you my mother?”

A warm smile graced the corner of Wen Xuechen’s lips and although he quickly pulled the corners back down, there was still a rarely seen gentle light in his eyes.

After the chaos was over and the disciples of Fengling who came to attend the wedding were sent back to rest in the guest hall, Xu Xingzhi yawned wearily and made his way back to his temporary bedroom while fanning himself leisurely.

Seeing the flickering lights in the hall from afar, the corners of Xu Xingzhi’s lips curved upwards unconsciously and he didn’t flatten them until he reached the front of the palace.

The moment he pushed the door open and walked in, he was picked up by the waist, and spun around several times until he yelled: “Waist, waist!”

Hearing Xu Xingzhi’s call of pain, Meng Chonggaung kissed his cheek and then reluctantly put him down: “Shixiong went to play with the others, but left Chongguang all alone in the room.”

A few days ago, Xu Xingzhi’s back injury flared up again as a result of manufacturing those fireworks. Now was precisely the time that it couldn’t be touched so easily, but he’d always thought that the action of supporting his waist was so ugly, so he could only limp towards the desk and pick a cushioned stool to sit on: “You reflect on yourself a bit and confess your sins, what have you done?”

Meng Chongguang was not convinced: “Wasn’t it just a mere kiss while Shixiong was sleeping. . .”

“. . . And then just conveniently take off my pants?”

“I missed Shixiong ya.” Meng Chongguang pouted aggrievedly, “Shixiong went to carry out a mission and not even your shadow could be seen over half a month while Chongguang guarded the empty palace alone. I felt lonely so the moment I saw Shixiong, I couldn’t help but. . .”

“Next time you are ordered to head out to perform tasks by yourself, you won’t feel like it’s difficult to bear.” Xu Xingzhi picked up the bamboo slips dripping with dark ink in order to block the grin threatening to reveal itself, “Have you finished transcribing the scriptures that I asked you to copy?”

Scanning them over, Xu Xingzhi instantly didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry.

In the beginning, Meng Chongguang was still transcribing the texts in a normal manner, but then his handwriting gradually grew increasingly tumultuous and zigzagged around like a four-legged snake:

“Shixiong has left for an hour. Where has he gone to ne, is he with Yuan-shijie, or has he gone to seek out Sa Si?”

“Shixiong has been gone for an hour, when will he come back?”

“Two hours. Chongguang misses Shixiong. I want to spread Shixiong’s legs apart. . .”

Reading up to here, Xu Xingzhi covered the bamboo slips expressionlessly: “This is the scriptures that you’ve duplicated?”

Meng Chongguang declared with confidence: “Yes ah.”

If he were even slightly ashamed, he would’ve just brushed it off, but with such a brazen face, Xu Xingzhi felt a little exasperated instead: “Tonight you’ll go sleep in the disciple’s hall.”

Without saying a word, Meng Chongguang knelt down on the ground with a putong, shuffled forward two steps on his knees, and glomped Xu Xingzhi’s thigh. He placed his chin on the other’s knee and whined coquettishly: “Shixiong, Shixiong, I know that I was wrong la, I won’t do this in the future again. Don’t drive me away, I’ll warm your bed for you.”

Xu Xingzhi turned his head away and forcibly suppressed a smile: “. . . Warm what bed? You’re sleeping on the floor. If you dare to climb onto the bed in the middle of the night, you’ll be banished to the disciple hall. Do you hear me?”

Seeing that Xu Xingzhi was being lenient, Meng Chongguang beamed, straightened neatly and then launched himself into Xu Xingzhi’s arms. He planted a light peck on Xu Xingzhi’s forehead and then brushed the delicate and exquisite mole under the other’s eye with his fingertips ambiguously: “I’m going to help Shixiong fill up the bath to wash up!”

After the superficial kiss, he withdrew and departed contently, leaving Xu Xingzhi alone to touch his feverish forehead as he mocked and scolded himself: “. . . Little scoundrel.”

Wen Xuechen’s marriage had been on the agenda since a year ago. Up until the day when the wedding ceremony officially commenced, all the steps were straightened out and all the preparations made so that everything would proceed in an orderly manner and wouldn’t descend into hysteria.

Since the morning, the lords and elders of the four sects arrived one after another.

Guangfu-jun stayed behind in the sect to deal with all kinds of miscellaneous affairs and failed to make the trip, only conveying his congratulations and sending wedding gifts, but Qingjing-jun, who never cared for worldly affairs, actually ran over.

In Qingjing-jun’s words: “Qingliang Valley’s wine has always been delicious, so I definitely won’t pass up the chance to come and taste it.”

Xu Xingzhi, Zhou Beinan, and Qu Chi were all attendants on Wen Xuechen’s side, responsible for receiving guests and acting as the master of ceremonies, thus they had been busy since the early morning.

Zhou Beinan frowned as soon as he ran into Xu Xingzhi: “You are still going to drink at this time?”

“Drink alcohol early in the morning and the sooner I’ll sober up.” Xu Xingzhi didn’t take it seriously, “I didn’t consume so much to become drunk, it won’t delay official business.”

After he wandered off, Zhou Beinan stood next to Qu Chi, the former was very worried: “It couldn’t be that Xingzhi really had a secretive relationship with Jiu Zhideng? It’s been nearly a year since Jiu Zhideng left, why is he still relying on drinking to get through day by day?”

“Xingzhi places too much emphasis on feelings, it’s not incomprehensible that he still hasn’t walked out of it.” Qu Chi whispered softly, “However we really should persuade him a little.”

“That Jiu Zhideng is doing pretty well ah.” Zhou Beinan was somewhat irritable, “Of his two brothers, one rebelled, the other passed away from illness. He has already secured the position for Demon Lord with Liu Yunhe’s support, so why would Xingzhi. . .”

“A mere puppet only, how could it be called Demon Lord ne.” Qu Chi replied, “The one who really holds all the power in the demonic path is probably Liu Yunhe who stands behind him.”

Zhou Beinan wanted to refute that, but Qu Chi turned around and gazed at him gently: “Beinan, you are well-informed about the demonic sect matters ah.”

Zhou Beinan: “Ah?”

“The matter of Jiu Zhideng’s second brother’s death is still a secret, how do you know?”

Zhou Beinan flushed and asked stiffly: “Well, how do you know then?”

“I’m concerned about Xingzhi, so I specially went to inquire about it. What about you?”

“I. . .” Zhou Beinan almost choked on his breath, “. . . I was bored, okay ba?”

After he finished speaking, he flicked his sleeves and stalked away in a huff, leaving Qu Chi behind as the other smiled at his back.

However, before Zhou Beinan was able to take three or four steps, he heard an announcement echo front he mouth of Qingliang Valley: “The Demon Lord Jiu Zhideng has arrived—”

Qu Chi raised his head, Zhou Beinan stopped suddenly, and Xu Xingzhi, who was on the high platform for receiving guests not too far away from them and was chatting with Qingjing-jun, also whipped his head around, incomparably stunned.

Before the various lords and elders seated on the high platform could exchange whispers, Qingjing-jun lifted his hand and announced in a warm voice: “Everyone, please do not be alarmed, it was I who sent him an invitation, after all, he is my disciple and the two, immortal and demonic sects, have been at odds for many years. Inviting him to the wedding is also an act of reconciliation between our two cultivation paths.”

Although Qingjing-jun spoke in a soft voice, because of his position as the most detached among the immortal path lords, the other lords and elders didn’t have many criticizing words and could only smile and answer that it was okay, not a big deal.

Xu Xingzhi was both surprised and delighted as he whispered: “. . . Shifu?”

Qingjing-jun turned his body sideways towards the other and murmured back in the same low voice, “. . . Happy ba?”

Seeing the joy on Xu Xingzhi’s face, Qingjing-jun’s expression softened even more: “As long as you’re pleased.”

“Shifu is so thoughtful.” Xu Xingzhi’s expression glowed, “I haven’t seen Xiao-Deng in such a long time.”

Unexpectedly, Qingjing-jun confessed frankly: “. . . How is this thoughtfulness on my part. I didn’t think of inviting him to come here at first, it was because someone sent me a letter, asking me to pen a letter of invitation personally and send it to the main palace of the demonic sects that I wrote it.”

The officer of rites at the entrance of the valley received the gift list presented by Jiu Zhideng and the loud salute resounded throughout the valley.

When the officer of rites announced the list of presents, Zhou Beinan peeked at Wen Xuechen, who was dressed in auspicious robes, with some concern, but found that there was neither a look of disgust nor surprise on his face, in fact, a faint smile graced his face.

Taking note of his countenance, how could Zhou Beinan not be able to guess the reason: “. . . You invited him here?”

Wen Xuechen lifted his chin slightly “Since he has become the Demon lord, I have to test whether his loyalty to the four sects has changed. My wedding ceremony provides a suitable opportunity to observe his movements, thus I wrote to Qingjing-jun to do me this favor. I implored Qingjing-jun to personally write a letter and send it to the demonic sects. I don’t believe that he would have declined.”

Zhou Beinan countered: “Then why didn’t you have Xingzhi write the letter? He is currently rectifying the demonic sects, everything is rapidly unfolding and messy as a result. If Qingjing-jun wrote it personally, of course he wouldn’t refuse, but if you had Xingzhi call for him personally, he would be even less likely to refuse ba.”

Wen Xuechen: “. . .”

Zhou Beinan narrowed his eyes: “You wanted to arrange a pleasant surprise for Xingzhi?”

Wen Xuechen’s cheeks were dyed a faint color by the scarlet of the auspicious suit as he yanked on his wheelchair hard: “. . . Preposterous.”

The gift list was extremely long, and the etiquette officer read it out loud for a full quarter of an hour before reaching the end. When the last syllable sounded, Jiu Zhideng stepped through the gates of the sect in a steady manner.

He was dressed in a dark green robe, but it couldn’t conceal his majestic and elegant posture like a crane. The crisp atmosphere surrounding him was like the moonlight cast through the bluestone window and following behind him, standing obliquely, was Liu Yunhe, who was dressed in crow green robe.

He strode along the main path all the way to the high platform then without waiting for Liu Yunhe to stop him, he shook his sleeves and bowed directly: “Shifu.”

Liu Yunhe had no choice but to kneel down with him.

This move seemed strange and inappropriate, but it made Zhou Beinan, Wen Xuechen, and the other lords frown one after another.

. . . From the looks of it, Jiu Zhideng wasn’t quite the puppet they initially assumed, He advances and retreats independently and it even seems as if Liu Yunhe is actually a little fearful of Jiu Zhideng instead?

After paying homage to Qingjing-jun, Jiu Zhideng bowed deeply towards the stage again: “Shixiong.”

Jiu Zhideng didn’t make it difficult for Xu Xingzhi and the time he offered his respects to the other was slightly shorter than the time he spent for Qingjing-jun.

Liu Yunhe copied Jiu Zhideng and saluted again.

Jiu Zhideng followed etiquette and greeted every lord present one by one and then addressed them in an neither humble nor overbearing manner: “My lords, this junior came hastily to offer my congratulations today and have disturbed you all, please forgive me.”

His manners were so impeccable that even if there were immortal practitioners who abhorred those not of the righteous sects, as a fellow guest, they couldn’t show Jiu Zhideng any disrespect or displeasure, they could only respond by returning a polite nod to the other.

After Xu Xingzhi exchanged glances with Qingjing-jun, he closed the distance in a few steps, grasped the other’s arm, and helped Jiu Zhideng up, a brilliant joy radiated from his voice: “. . . Respected lord of the demonic cultivators, please have a seat.”

Coming in contact with Xu Xingzhi’s slightly chilly palm, Jiu Zhideng, who had been calm since he entered the sect, trembled with emotion, captured the other’s arm tightly and refused to let go for a long time, an alluring crimson hue dyed his pale lips: “Shixiong. . .”

In the distance not too far away, Meng Chongguang’s face completely darkened.

The author has something to say:

Shixiong: I, the group pet, give money

Qu Chi: Okay, alright, fine, give, gift, send

Wen Xuechen/Zhou Beinan: . . . mdzz. (secretly gifting money)

#The whole world is spoiling Shixiong#

Author’s Chapter Summary:

Fireworks, joyous events, reunion

The translator has something to say: what a bunch of tsunderes, except QC, everyone else is the epitome of “I will do a good deed but not leave my name behind” while XXZ inadvertently makes it so that everyone knows he did it, but no one will resent him for it because they know he isn’t trying to show off how great he is and is just being genuine and straight

Sorry I uploaded late, I was having trouble with the website which I think many readers were aware